


Pieces of the Past

by angellwings



Category: Timeless (TV 2016)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Friendship/Love, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Season/Series 01, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 00:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13329213
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angellwings/pseuds/angellwings
Summary: One jump changes something in the present that almost goes unnoticed. This is the story of how it effects Lucy and Wyatt. A story in two parts.





	1. Before

(1/2)

Running. There was always running. Emma had hired local goons this time. Big guys from some kind of underground boxing club run by Rittenhouse members. There were too many of them to stand their ground against so running it was. They rounded a corner and Wyatt groaned because these guys had managed to box them in. They were behind them and in front of them.

"Um, Wyatt?" Lucy asked in a nervous tone as she looked to him for a solution. The only option they had was up. He motioned to the nearby fire escape and hoisted Lucy up. She began to climb with Rufus just behind her. Wyatt scrambled up after them toward the roof. He heard a shout from above him as Rufus made it onto the roof and huffed once he saw what was happening for himself.

One of these guys had made it to the roof first. They'd shoved Lucy to the ground and had Rufus bent over the edge in a threat to throw him down several stories. Of course, that wasn't going to happen. Wyatt shot the man in the arm as he was trying to be more careful with kill shots these days, but he still didn't let go of Rufus. Wyatt shot him two more times in his other arm and his leg and still nothing. Yeah, okay, this guy was massive but how was this possible? He was like that knight in Monty Python that kept fighting even after blood was pouring from every limb. Rufus was now being held out further over the building so Wyatt had no choice. He took him out. Rufus stumbled to the ground with a grunt and then ran over meet them. Wyatt helped Lucy to her feet and then they were off again. Running for their lives.

Later that night when they stopped Emma, they had more questions than answers and made their way home. After changing and realizing they'd come back only 14 hours after they'd left, a surprisingly short mission for them these days, the team plus Jiya had gotten to their favorite bar just in time for happy hour. Cheap booze was usually one of the better ways to decompress after a mission. They'd settled into their booth, Jiya and Rufus on one side and Wyatt and Lucy on the other, and started talking about anything but work.

"So, Agent Christopher got a call from her son while you guys were gone and it was so surreal," Jiya said with wide eyes. "I've never heard her sound so much like a-like a-"

"Mom?" Lucy offered.

"A human," Jiya amended.

Wyatt laughed. "It's almost like that time she complimented Connor Mason. I thought we had an alternate timeline Denise Christopher for a second."

"Having had dinner with her family I can tell you that side of Agent Christopher takes some getting used to," Lucy said with a nod. "She's totally different when not with all of us."

"Well, if you worked with all of us wouldn't you be stern and distant?" Rufus asked with a smirk. "We're kinda a lot of upkeep. I mean, we steal time machines and question all of her decisions and Lucy tries to ditch her security detail-"

"One time," Lucy said immediately in an attempt to defend herself. "One time I tried to ditch them."

"It was only once because you got caught," Jiya said with a laugh. "By Wyatt."

"Believe me, I set her straight," Wyatt said with a chuckle.

It was true he did, but it may have been followed by a make out session on his couch. So, he wasn't sure if his lecture really stuck with her. It's not as though he could've helped himself though. They were yelling and then she was pouting and glaring at him and damn him if he didn't find how stubborn she was completely attractive.

Lucy grinned wickedly at him and placed a hand on his thigh under the table, with a soft squeeze. He fought the urge to roll his eyes at her smug expression. She knew she'd properly distracted him that night and she loved to hold it over his head as often as she could.

They'd been dating now for about two months and it was an interesting adjustment. Interesting because it hadn't been difficult at all. They'd slipped into an easy pattern. They'd spent most of their nights together at her place after that first make out session. There was one particular thing Wyatt kept meaning to do before having Lucy over but usually by the time he got home he was just too exhausted. But as long as that wall of evidence pertaining to Jessica's murder was still up in his bedroom, he wasn't sure having Lucy over was the best idea.

It had still taken them a while after that initial conversation of "possibilities" to get past their hang ups. Most notable of their hang ups was Jessica. Lucy had helped him move on in between their first talk and that night in his apartment just by listening to him talk about Jessica. He knew it helped her too. It got them both comfortable with talking about Jessica.

She'd been a big part of Wyatt's life and who he'd become so it was important that they could talk about her without it becoming something awkward and oppressive. He was still occasionally trying to investigate Jessica's murder but more to bring her family peace than himself. They deserved to know what happened, Jessica deserved to have her killer behind bars, but it no longer kept him from living his life. He didn't let it deny him the here and now.

None of this meant that he wanted Lucy to see his wall of articles and evidence and theories regarding Jessica's murder, though.

Lucy must have sensed he was no longer engaged in their conversation because she'd grabbed his hand under the table and given it a support squeeze. He met her eyes as she gave him a concerned glance.

"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm good," he said with a nod.

Lucy's two guards, used to be just one before she tried to ditch her detail, suddenly crossed the bar to their booth. That got Wyatt's attention immediately. Usually they kept their distance and if they were encroaching on that then something must have happened. They were standing next to the table and then a few seconds after that ushering Lucy out of the bar. Wyatt dutifully followed. Lucy shot him a frightened look that made his chest ache.

"What's going on, guys?" Wyatt asked. "What happened?"

"The security detail at the safe house found an intruder inside the building," Jeremy told Lucy gently. Jeremy was her original guard who had a much better bedside manner than his new partner, Terry.

"Oh my god," Lucy said with a furrowed brow. "Rittenhouse?"

"We're not certain right now," Jeremy told her. "We have him in custody, though, so we'll find out. Don't worry."

"The problem now," Terry said as she pushed her long blonde hair back over her shoulder. "Is that you can't stay there tonight. Maybe not ever again. Not until we figure out how this guy got into the building."

"Not ever again?" Lucy asked with wide panicked eyes. "So then where am I gonna go?"

"We've got a compound outside of town about an hour away with much better security. It's gated and well lit. We'd like to hold you there until all of this blows over," Terry answered. Jeremy sighed and shook his head in frustration and Wyatt understood why. Not even Wyatt liked the way that sounded.

"Hold her? On a _compound?_ " Wyatt asked with a quirked brow. Lucy edged closer to him, a sure sign that she felt more than a little panicked. "Forgive me, but that kind of sounds like prison. Don't you think that's overkill? You don't even know anything about this intruder."

"It would only be until the threat has passed," Terry said with a dismissive wave of her hand.

"Yes," Wyatt said slowly. He was becoming more and more irritated with this situation. He continued, being sure to speak very slowly as if he were talking to a child. If Terry was going to be condescending to him then he was going to throw that right back at her. "But you don't know enough about the threat to know exactly when it will pass. You can't possibly hold her at a Homeland Security compound for an unidentified amount of time. That's ridiculous." Wyatt had placed his arm around Lucy's waist now, holding her to him, refusing to let her go. Because like hell he was going to let them isolate Lucy from everyone she knows and loves when she's feeling scared and vulnerable.

"Terry, let me talk to them," Jeremy asked. Terry looked ready to protest but when Jeremy glared at her she relented and walked away. Once she was gone Jeremy smiled sympathetically at them. "This wasn't our preferred choice," he said with a sigh. "I've been on the phone with Agent Christopher the entire time we've been in that bar. We have no other safehouses in the area. The compound isn't as bad as it sounds, Lucy. It's laid out like a camp. A camp with indoor bathrooms and air conditioning and meals prepared by a pretty fabulous chef. And yes, we don't know how long but we don't anticipate you'll be there for an extended period of time. A week at most, depending on how well this guy holds up under interrogation."

Wyatt knew some of their safehouses had been compromised during the Rittenhouse arrests. One of Christopher's agents had turned up on a list of Rittenhouse recruits. But something about this being the only option didn't sit right with Wyatt. Usually, there were failsafes for failsafes.

"Um, Wyatt?" Lucy said in a nervous tone. It was exactly how she'd said it to him in that alley earlier today. She was looking to him for a solution.

"What if she stays with me," Wyatt offered. "It's my job to keep her safe anyway, right? I've got the training and experience. This way, she stays safe without having to be ripped away from everything. It's good for her, good for you. A win-win."

Jeremy doesn't seem to really like that suggestion but he doesn't say no. "Let me call Agent Christopher."

"I'm not going," Lucy told Wyatt before Jeremy had managed to step away. "I don't care what Agent Christopher says. I'm not going." Wyatt heard Jeremy sigh tiredly before the Homeland Security agent finally made it out of earshot. "They can't make me go," Lucy sneered. He could hear the panic in her voice now and he knew she was a moment away from frustrated tears.

He pulled her against him and rubbed his hands up and down her arms soothingly. "You're not going anywhere," Wyatt promised her. He meant it too. If he had to make a run for his truck with her in tow he would. She leaned into him and rested her cheek against his shoulder. He turned his head and placed a kiss against her hair.

While Jeremy was on the phone Jiya and Rufus were finally able to reach them.

"What the hell is going on?" Rufus asked with a concerned glance at Lucy as she was curled into Wyatt.

"The security at her safehouse was compromised," Wyatt said with a sigh. "They want to relocate her."

"Relocate her where?" Jiya asked with frown. "For how long?"

"It doesn't matter," Lucy said, her words muffled against his chest. "Because I'm not going. Right, Wyatt?"

He let out a light chuckle and squeezed her tighter. "Right, Professor."

Jeremy rejoined them with a smile. Wyatt took that as a good sign.

"Agent Christopher signed off. She said you can stay with Wyatt until we figure this out. Okay, Lucy?" Jeremy said as he placed a sympathetic hand on her shoulder.

"I wasn't going anywhere anyway," Lucy muttered as she pulled her head away from Wyatt's shoulder. "But thank you," she said as she met Jeremy's gaze with a half hearted smile.

Wyatt smiled affectionately at her and then kissed the top her head. "I've got it from here," Wyatt told Jeremy. "Thanks, man."

"We're gonna go," Rufus said before he gave Lucy a friendly supportive hug. "Hang in there, okay? We'll beat these Rittenhouse bastards eventually."

"See ya, Rufus," Lucy told him as she stepped out of his hug and then gave Jiya a hug as well. "Be safe."

"You too," Jiya said with as she threw her a pointed look. "You hear me?"

Lucy chuckled and nodded. "Yes, okay, fine. I hear you."

"Ready?" Wyatt asked her as Jiya and Rufus walked away from them.

"Yes," she said as she wrapped her arms around his middle. "Let's go."

He put one arm around her shoulders as they walked to his truck. Before she climbed inside the passenger seat he pulled her close and placed a lingering kiss on her lips. Turning one kiss into two and then resting his forehead against hers.

"I was ready to run away with you if I had to," he told her with a grin. "Just so you know."

"Well, then we'd really be the Infamous Lucy & Wyatt, wouldn't we?" She asked him with a chuckle and cheeky grin.

"Sounds pretty good to me," Wyatt told her with a wink. She kissed him one last time before getting in the passenger seat. He closed the door and jogged around to the driver's side. Starting the car and taking off for his apartment immediately.

On the drive home, he realized this would mean Lucy would see the wall. The wall he'd tried to keep hidden from her. He'd just have to hope she took it in stride.

"Are you okay?" Lucy asked after he'd been silent for several minutes.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" He said as he tried to deflect her question.

"Wyatt, I'm serious. You have the same look now that you had earlier in the bar," she said as she placed a supportive hand on his arm. "What's going on?"

He sighed and knew he was busted. Maybe it was best to just get it out of the way? "You know how I was investigating Jessica's murder?" He asked. Which was a dumb question because of course she knew. But if she thought the question was dumb she didn't indicate that. She merely nodded and waited for him to continue. "I put all the evidence I found, whatever it was, together on a wall in my bedroom-"

"Oh, I know," Lucy said casually. "I saw it last time."

He froze and gave her a started look. "You did?"

She nodded. "You were making dinner and I kind of snooped. Sorry."

He breathed a big sigh of relief and chuckled at himself. Of course she'd seen it. She was Lucy, she was too curious for her own good sometimes. He should have known. "No, that's-that's great. I needed to hear that."

She tilted her head at him with a small supportive smile. "Did you think I'd be upset?"

"I didn't know what you'd be actually," he replied honestly.

"Jessica deserves to have her killer brought to justice, Wyatt, I understand," Lucy said as she gingerly reached over and ran her fingers through his hair. "I only worried when it seemed that was all you could think about and you haven't been like that for a long time now. It's okay, really."

He briefly looked away from the road to give her an awed look and kiss her the palm of her hand that had been running through his hair. "God, you're wonderful," he said in amazement. "You really are."

"No, I'm not," she said with a self deprecating laugh. "I just care a lot about you. I want you to be happy, Wyatt."

He knew he was well on his way to falling in love with her, but her support in that moment pushed him over the edge. He was officially head over heels for Lucy Preston.

They parked outside of his building and he took her hand as they walked inside, his fingers intertwined with hers. He felt more relaxed than ever now that the reason he'd kept her out of his apartment no longer stood between them. Maybe he'd get her to help him take that wall down tonight. Pack away the evidence in a well organized box so that he could still look through it if he happened to catch a break in the case.

He unlocked his apartment door and allowed Lucy to lead the way inside. He shut and bolted the door behind him. He was happy to have her there with him but the reason she was there wasn't forgotten. He'd made a mental note of where he'd stashed his sidearm so he'd know how to reach it quickly.

"Do you have any clothes I can borrow?" Lucy asked. "I really don't want to sleep in my jeans."

He nodded. "Top drawer has sweats and t-shirts. Help yourself," he said with a wink as he motioned to his bedroom at the end of the hall. Lucy nodded and headed back that way, after a few minutes he heard her call out his name. He was there in a flash partially afraid something serious had happened, but he found her simply standing there staring at his bedroom wall. Finally he asked her, "What's up?"

"I thought you said you left the wall up?" She asked him with a furrowed brow.

That's when he realized the wall she was staring at was the wall where his map of evidence and articles had been. There was nothing there. The wall was completely empty. "I did leave it up. It was all there last night."

Lucy stepped closer to the wall to examine it and she stepped away looking even more confused. "There aren't even any holes where thumbtacks might have been. It's almost as if your wall never existed."

Lucy ran a hand over the wall as she tried to find any small holes but the wall was perfectly unmarked.

"You sure you didn't take it down?" She asked.

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"If you had taken it down-"

"I didn't."

She gave an exasperated look and sighed. "Humor me?"

"Fine," he said with a shake of his head, this was too strange.

"If you had taken it down, where would you have put the evidence and the news clippings?" She asked him.

"I had a box in the corner that I was saving for it," he answered as his looked to the corner and realized the box was gone too. "Which has disappeared. What is going on?"

Lucy bit her lip thoughtfully for a moment before she held out her hand to him. "Where's your phone?"

He took it out of his back jean pocket and placed it in her hand. He watched her carefully as she punched in his access code, which he didn't realize she knew, and then started searching his contacts. When she was done with that she pulled up the Facebook app he never used, and a second later she spoke. Sounding wary and nervous and more reluctant than he'd ever heard her.

"Wyatt, Jessica is alive."

What? He asked himself. How could that be? Where was she? Why did everything else in his apartment look exactly the same as it had always been? There was no trace of her in his life at all. He was very confused and strangely...relieved. Though that felt wrong, as if it shouldn't be allowed, so he went back to being confused and conflicted.

Lucy placed the phone back in his hands revealing a Facebook page for Jessica Ferguson. The picture was definitely of Jess. _His_ Jess.

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heh. I got you didn't I? You thought this story was gonna be about the break in and the obvious hole in security right? wrong. ;) Part 2 coming tomorrow! Thanks for reading!


	2. After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do you deal with a ghost that's no longer dead?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoy the conclusion! It's a lot more feelsy. ;)  
> Happy reading!

(2/2)

"I found her in your Facebook friends," Lucy said softly. "The name is different but that's certainly her."

His brow furrowed and he shook his head in confusion. "So, what? Does that mean in this timeline I never married her?"

"I don't know," Lucy said thoughtfully. "But I know someone who will know."

"Who?" Wyatt asked.

"Jiya. Jiya knows everything," Lucy said with a half hearted chuckle. She pulled out her phone and dialed Jiya's number just before placing the phone on speaker.

"You rang?" Jiya asked brightly.

"This is going to sound like a weird question, Jiya, but just go with it, okay?" Lucy asked.

"Okay," Jiya said slowly. "Shoot."

"What do you know about Wyatt's wife, Jessica?"

There was a pause and then Jiya spoke up in a confused tone. "You mean his _ex_ -wife? Are you guys still dealing with that? I thought you said you helped him through that whole 'screwing up his marriage' guilt thing he was going through?"

"They divorced?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, did you hit your head on this mission or something?" Then she paused for a moment and then continued just as suddenly. "Unless, has something changed since your last jump?"

"Yeah, something changed," Lucy said with a nod. "We're still trying to figure it out."

"Okay, well call me when you do," Jiya said worriedly.

"Will do," Lucy told her. "See you later."

Lucy hung up and then placed a hand on Wyatt's shoulder. He'd looked lost and a bit confused during that entire phone call. She couldn't blame him because, honestly, she wasn't sure what to do with the information either. "Are you okay, Wyatt?"

"That explains why there's no trace of her here," Wyatt answered in a distracted tone. He took a deep breath and sighed before he spoke again. "And it actually makes sense," he admitted sheepishly.

"It does?" Lucy asked. From the way he talked about Jessica she assumed they had this fairy tale love.

"My marriage wasn't at all perfect," Wyatt answered hesitantly. "I just never wanted to remember the fights, which, honestly, there were a lot of them in that last year."

He laid back onto his bed with a far off thoughtful expression and after a moment Lucy laid down next to him. She kept her distance, though, uncertain of where Jessica being alive left them.

"About what?" She asked.

"My job, kids, buying a house, and so many other things. She wanted to feel more settled, more secure. My job hindered that for her. But it's all I know. What would I even do other than this? And kids? I mean, she knew what a son of bitch my dad was. I couldn't risk screwing up a new little person like he did, especially since I'm gone so much of the time," he confessed.

It was all coming back to him. The things he'd overlooked in his guilt and the things he'd purposely misremembered for the sake of her memory. She'd hated his job and it made sense that she eventually decided to move on. She needed someone different than him to make her truly happy. Jiya was right, he had screwed up his marriage. He felt guilt but not overwhelming guilt. Not like before when he'd lost her. No where close to that, at all.

Next to him, he heard Lucy sigh and felt her fingers in his hair. The space she'd put between them had disappeared suddenly and he was grateful to have her close again. He wasn't sure what brought her back but her hand running through his hair offered him too much comfort to question it.

"That doesn't mean it was all your fault, Wyatt," Lucy said softly. She knew what he'd been thinking. She knew him well enough by now to recognize his guilt. "I know this isn't what you imagined saving her would feel like. I'm sorry."

He reached up and grabbed the hand that was gently combing through his hair and then turned to look her in the eyes. There was no anger or resentment in her expression, just understanding and maybe some self doubt. He noticed there was less than there would have been two months ago but he could still see it lingering in her eyes. "Why are you apologizing?" He asked with half of a smile. "It's not as though this is your fault."

"No," she said with a sigh. "But I know how I'd feel if I got Amy back and things weren't the same. You know? Like if I got her back but it turned out in the new timeline we weren't close? That would be torture. But at least she'd be here. Alive. I mean I could fix the rest eventually."

He realized, in that moment, where the doubt he'd seen in Lucy's eyes was coming from. She assumed he'd want a second chance with Jessica. He could already imagine her gathering up the courage to step aside. He felt a brief pang of heartache in his chest at the idea of losing Lucy over this and then sudden amusement that, of course, this would happen just as they'd gotten comfortable with the idea of Jessica being gone.

He chuckled to himself and shook his head.

"What?" Lucy asked with a quirked brow and a hesitant grin.

"We had just gotten past Jessica, you and me. Literally today, the last bit of struggle with her was resolved. And now this," Wyatt told her with a wry grin. "It's like the universe just _knew_."

Lucy didn't seem to find it as bitterly amusing as he did. There was a moment of silence, then she sighed again, and spoke. "What do you want to do, Wyatt?"

It wasn't said with impatience or as if she were rushing him to make a decision. She sounded as if she just wanted to know how to help him. It reminded him of the night he'd told her he and Rufus were stealing the time machine. She wanted a task-a distraction. He knew the feeling.

"I want to know what happened. When it happened. I want to know more about how she is now so I can make sure she's happy. How do we do that?" He asked her.

He was telling her what he wanted as he was figuring it out. He wasn't over thinking what he was telling her or softening anything to spare her feelings. He was being honest in real time. He actually surprised himself with his reaction. He'd thought about what he'd do in this situation, though he'd thought about it as little as possible. Thoughts of Jess coming back while he was with Lucy seemed to be more heart wrenching than anything else. He worried he might drop everything and run to Jess, trampling over Lucy in the process. He didn't want to do that, but he worried his selfish asshole instincts might kick in when push came to shove.

But that wasn't happening. He wasn't in an anxious rush to see Jessica and he certainly didn't want to deal with any of this _without_ Lucy. Did that mean he was _okay_ with his marriage to Jess not working out? Was he _okay_ with his initial fantasies about seeing her waiting for him when he came home one day _not_ coming true?

Yes, he realized. He was. Did it sting like a bitch to think he'd hurt Jess enough to push her away? Absolutely. Did he want to make sure she was happy and healthy? Yes. Was he ecstatic to hear that she was living and breathing on this earth again? Completely. It lifted a weight from his shoulders that he thought he would never be free of. The idea that she once again had a chance at life and happiness made him feel more...content than he had in a long time.

But with the knowledge that they'd divorced came the realization that he'd been misremembering the past. He'd been painting everything as if he and Jess were this perfect couple who had everything together and their whole lives planned out. Honestly, that was far from the truth. In the early days, they were amazing together. He had nothing but wonderful memories of dating her, proposing to her, the actual wedding. But once the honeymoon phase had ended, the realization that marriage was damn hard work had smacked them both upside the head.

He knew any couple argued. If you expected to love someone and agree with them all the time then you were in for a harsh reality. Hell, he and Lucy argued at least twice a week depending on how life threatening that particular week had been. But a couple in a healthy relationship didn't argue like he and Jessica had. She'd thrown things and screamed at him, he'd cruelly dismissed her and drowned her out with alcohol, and she'd even packed her things more than once after a particularly nasty fight. Neither of them were bad people, they just weren't as complimentary as they once believed.

They'd fight, make up, and then ignore their issues. Delaying them to deal with on another day. That night after leaving the bar, there'd been no way they could delay the explosion any longer. They'd both been hateful. He wanted his guilt to swallow him whole after she died so he'd painted himself a picture of the girl he'd dated and initially fallen in love with and forgotten the ways they'd grown apart.

Lucy must have answered his earlier question about how he could get more information on Jess because he realized she was now pacing the floor in front of his bed, talking to Rufus in a fast and urgent tone. She hung up and then sat back down next to him on the bed.

"Rufus is going to use Mason's creepy all knowing software to look up Jessica," Lucy explained. "That should shed some light on what happened with the two of you." She paused and he could see her flip a switch and dive headfirst into her History Professor role. "I've been thinking, if our last jump did this then that man that tried to kill Rufus must have been an ancestor of Jessica's killer. I mean, that's the only thing we did that could have caused this kind of ripple. We have no way of knowing for sure since we don't know that man's name or the killer's identity from the old timeline, but I think it's safe to assume that's what happened." She was rambling now about other possibilities that were much less likely, but he was barely listening. He knew what she was doing. She was deflecting and detaching. Giving him the space she thought he needed.

"Lucy," Wyatt said softly as he laced their fingers together. He'd interrupted her as she said something about finding the roster for the underground boxing club from their earlier mission, so it took her a minute to refocus on him. "It's okay."

She swallowed thickly and bit her bottom lip. "Are you sure?"

He brought the hand he held to his lips and kissed the back of it before nodding in response. "I'm sure."

Lucy's phone rang suddenly and she jumped in surprise. "That was fast," she said before she answered. She put Rufus on speaker so they could both hear.

"She remarried," Rufus said quickly with no preamble, as if he were pulling off a band aid. "To a guy named Tommy Ferguson?"

Wyatt's eyes widened in recognition and then he chuckled softly. "He's a family friend. He and Jess grew up living next door to each other."

Rufus continued. He sounded less hesitant and Wyatt had a feeling Rufus had expected a more dramatic reaction from him.

"Right, well, in this timeline, that night you and Jess had your fight resulted in her moving out the next day, from what I can gather. It looks like, according to some invoices I found with this insane software straight out of Orwell's 1984, you tried couples counseling for about a year before legally divorcing. If it helps, the paperwork for the divorce seems to indicate it was a pretty amicable split so the counseling must have done something for you both."

"What happened then?" Wyatt asked. He wordlessly hoped the assumption Rufus had made about counseling was right. He'd hate for Jessica to be carrying around any ill feelings toward him.

"According to my expert facebook stalking abilities, she moved back home to live with her parents while she got back on her feet, got a job as a paralegal at a small law office, and then ran into Tommy at the grocery store. It was love at second sight," Rufus told him. Wyatt heard concern creep into his friend's voice before he asked. "Are you okay, man?"

He squeezed Lucy's hand and smiled slowly. "Yeah, yeah I think I am. I wanted her alive, safe, and happy and it sounds like she's all three of those things. Thanks for helping me out, Rufus."

"Anytime, day or night, my friend," Rufus replied. "Let me know if I can help with anything else."

"Thanks, Rufus," Lucy told him. "You're the best."

"Yeah, I know," Rufus said with a chuckle as he hung up.

When the call went silent, Wyatt felt Lucy staring at him. He turned to meet her eyes and found concern for him waiting in her gaze.

"Are you sure, you're okay?" She asked. "I mean Jessica was a huge part of your life and when we met you were so set on getting her back-"

"Lucy, _you're_ a huge part of my life," he told her. He made sure to hold her gaze, knowing the truth of it would show in his eyes. "I think someone very smart once told me, 'the present isn't perfect, but it's ours.' Remember that?"

She nodded with a weak smile but didn't say anything in response.

"I've been sitting here thinking. Thinking about Jess, and you, and the years in between and more than anything what I've discovered is that I let my guilt motivate everything I did and everything I felt. Jessica and I grew apart long before that fight but in the face of feeling as though her death was my fault I'd convinced myself otherwise. I lied to myself about the true state of our marriage. I thought I deserved punishment and remembering our marriage as perfect did the trick. It kept me angry and alone, just like I thought I deserved," Wyatt admitted. He turned his gaze to her hand and studied the way her fingers fit so perfectly with his and smiled softly. "Until _you_. Until Rufus. Until the two of you forced your way through all my walls and convinced me I could actually _live_. So, no, I don't want to go running back to Jess begging her to take me back. I'm content knowing she's alive and has found someone to love her the way she always deserved. Now, I can do the same with the added bonus of _most_ of my baggage having been put behind me." He paused and took a deep cleansing breath. As he exhaled he realized he felt lighter than he had in years. He met Lucy's eyes again with a look that he hoped was full of everything he felt for her, including the things he wasn't quite ready to say out loud. "I'd like to think that _you_ are that someone but that's up to you. I'm not going anywhere," he promised as he brought a hand up to her cheek and gently caressed her face.

She closed her eyes and leaned into his hand. He must have said all the right things because when she opened her eyes they were shining with unshed tears and her self doubt was gone. It had been replaced with joy. He wasn't sure he'd ever seen Lucy radiate happiness the way she was now. Since they'd met she'd been through so much. _Too much_ , he thought to himself. He took in every bit of her beautiful face. He wanted to remember that look of pure joy for the rest of his life.

She launched herself at him with a tight embrace. With her cheek nestled against his shoulder in a way that was unique to only Lucy. She pulled back from the hug to meet his eyes and beamed at him before she spoke. "I'm going anywhere, either."

And now it was his turn to feel an overwhelming mix of relief and joy. He could no longer imagine himself without Lucy Preston and he never wanted to. They were good for eachother, as near perfect as he thought they could ever be. No amount of timeline shifting could change that.

They had a lot of fighting left to do. Against Rittenhouse. Against time. Hell, they were still currently dealing with whatever damn fool broke into her safehouse. But they also had a lot to _fight for._ Rufus. Amy. Eachother. As long as they fought _together_ he knew they'd win. They could deal with anything life or time threw at them, including the ghosts of their pasts.

_fin._


End file.
